Liriano v Strasburg

Francisco Liriano (9-4, 2.44) takes on Steven Strasburg (5-7, 2.97) tonight. Hopefully, The Cisco Kid can get back on track. The rust from the All-Star break showed in his last outing, when he because of command issues, he couldn't get out of the fifth in a loss to the Reds. Strasburg hasn't been real sharp this month, and suffers the double whammy of weak support from the Nat bats. It'll be a match of two marquee guys trying to settle back into their groove.

The games starts at 7:05 and will be aired by Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Pirate lineup: Starling Marte LF, Neil Walker 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Garrett  Jones 1B, Travis Snider RF, Mike McKenry C, Clint Barmes SS and Francisco Liriano P.

Bit of an odd look to the bottom of the order with Snider, The Fort and Barmes; guess Clint has been playing with his iPad again.

National lineup: Scott Hairston LF, Anthony Rendon SS, Ryan Zimmerman 3B, Jayson Werth RF, Adam
LaRoche 1B, Wilson Ramos C, Denard Span CF, Steve Lombardozzi 2B and Stephen Strasburg P.

Poor Anthony Rendon - the kid was drafted as a 3B and it looks like the Nats play him everywhere but. Harper has the night off, too.

• Russell Martin threw out his MLB-leading 20th baserunner last night. It’s the fifth time in Martin’s career he has thrown out at least 20 baserunners in a season.
• Pedro Alvarez is the first Pirate left-handed batter to hit at least 25 home runs in back-to-back campaigns since Brian Giles did it four years in a row from 1999 to 2002.
• One big difference in the club this year is that the Pirates are 27-21 on the road, with wins in 10 of their last 14 contests away from PNC Park.
• Another Elias Sports Bureau obscurity:  Gerrit Cole held the Nationals to two hits in seven innings and had two hits in three trips to the plate on Tuesday. He's the first Pirates rookie starter to have two or more hits while holding his opponent to two or fewer since Hank Gornicki had two hits in a two-hit shutout against the Boston Braves on August 27, 1942.
• Jared Hughes worked back-to-back last night at Indy, the last rehab checklist item, so he should be ready to come off the DL. He could be swapped out for Vic Black in Pittsburgh (we thought he was going to get the call to the big club originally) or remain with Indy.